ORANGE COUNTY

Orange was formed in 1752 from Johnston, Bladen and Granville. It was named in honor of the infant William V of Orange. It is in the central section of the State and is bounded by Durham, Chatham, Alamance, Caswell and Person counties. The present land area is 399.84 square miles. The population from the 2010 Census was 133,801. Of that population, 99,495 were white, 15,928 were black or African American, 570 were American Indian, 9,023 were Asian, 41 were Pacific Islander and 5,341 were of a different race. Another 3,403 were reported to be of two or more races and 11,017 were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The first courthouse was authorized to be established in 1754 where the western path crossed the Eno River on the land of James Watson. Childsburg was established in 1759 and was changed to Hillsborough in 1766. Hillsborough is the county seat.

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Parts of Orange County are in the Neuse River Basin and parts are in the Cape Fear River Basin. It is a part of the Piedmont region of the state.

References:

"American Factfinder." 2011. U. S. Census Bureau. Online at http://factfinder2.census.gov/. Accessed 3/3/2011.

Corbitt, David L. 2000. The Formation of the North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943. Sixth printing. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History.

Powell, William Stevens, and Michael R. Hill. 2010. The North Carolina gazetteer: a dictionary of Tar Heel places and their history. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Additional resources:

North Carolina Digital Collections (Government & Heritage Library and NC State Archives)

NC LIVE resources

NC Natural Heritage Program database

WorldCat (Searches numerous library catalogs)